Beyonce‘s forthcoming album Renaissance is one of the most highly anticipated records of this year, that’s for sure. With the release of the massive single “Break My Soul” and the unveiling of the instantly iconic album art, this LP is no casual affair, especially since its her first brand new full-length since 2016’s classic Lemonade.
It’s so highly anticipated, actually, that it’s been leaked. This has led to an outpour of mixed responses; some fans are excited and grateful to have access to it, while others are upset and sad for the singer whose music is out before she wants it to be. Either way, Beyonce seems to be just flat out happy to be releasing the record, because today the “Love On Top” performer shared a thoughtful statement on her website about the record, which arrives officially tomorrow.
“This three act project was recorded over three years during the pandemic. A time to be still, but also a time I found to be the most creative.
Creating this album allowed me a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world. It allowed me to feel free and adventurous in a time when little else was moving. My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, release, feel freedom. It was a beautiful journey of exploration.
I want to give a special thank you to Rumi, Sir, and Blue for allowing me the space, creativity, and inspiration. And a special thanks to my beautiful husband and muse, who held me down during those late nights in the studio. A big thank you to my uncle Johnny. He was my godmother and the first person to expose me to a lot of the music and culture that serve as inspiration for this album. Thank you to all of the pioneers who originate culture, to all of the fallen angels whose contributions have gone unrecognized for far too long. This is a celebration for you. Thank you to my Parkwood crew, my slab, Dream, and all of the talented producers involved. Mama, I luhhhh you. To my father, my O.G., my first teacher: You inspire me in every move that I make. I love you.
To all of my fans: I hope you find joy in this music. I hope it inspires you to release the wiggle. Ha! And to feel as unique, strong, and sexy as you are.
Earlier this year, audiences were shocked to experience a Jim Halpert jumpscare in theaters when John Krasinski appeared in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madnessas the elastic superhero Mr. Fantastic. Despite his relatively small cameo, Krasinski still helped save the world (kind of) and proved that he could actually play a superhero, which is quite different from his most iconic role of lonely paper salesman Jim Halpert.
The former Office star stopped by to chat with Jimmy Fallon about his various new projects, and of course, Fallon brought up his most iconic character to spark one of the internet’s hottest debates: Is Jim Halpert Really The Villain?
“The internet is always right,” Krasinski joked as Fallon brought up an old article pointing out how Jim was sometimes manipulative. Fallon said there was “no way” Jim was the bad guy, to which Krasinski admitted, “Well they’re on to me because I played [Jim] as a supervillain,” the actor jokingly recalled. “That’s why I did Fantastic Four to balance it out — I had already done the villain.”
While Krasinski couldn’t give away any info about the just-announcedFantastic Four movie (or even confirm that he is in it at all), he did hype up his upcoming movie If, which will star Ryan Reynolds and his old Office co-star Steve Carell. “I should have started with ‘This is The Office reunion movie,’” Krasinski joked to the delight of the audience who just want to see Jim and Michael together on screen again. The fans need a Threat Level Midnightsequel!
Mayo is, for some reason, a very divisive food item. The people who don’t like it really don’t like it and they’re not afraid to be loud about it. They’ll swear it ruins a sandwich, makes them gag, or respond in some other hysterical manner over a condiment that is simply meant to enhance the flavor and texture of a given dish. And while we get that certain people can’t get over the mouthfeel, it’s worth noting that mayo is egg, oil, and vinegar blended together — pretty mundane, at its core.
And yet… the controversy endures. When my editor asked me to blind taste test mayos he wrote in Slack, “I love mayo, ya’ll are weird.” Unprompted, mind you. Who was the “ya’ll” in this conversation? Someone’s hate of mayo hurt this man so deeply that he lashed out in passionate defense of the condiment [spoiler: It was Drew Magary]. Anyway, I wasn’t particularly bothered by the assignment. So I collected all the mayos I could find — in stores and online — and tasted them blind on French fries.
Methodology
So do I personally like mayo? Yeah. It’s an essential ingredient in a lot of sauces and it adds fat and flavor anywhere you need fat and flavor. My most controversial mayo take is that I don’t think it’s the best sauce for a fried chicken sandwich because I almost always think mayo tastes better when it has something else mixed in it. But it’s also best when you (or a chef) are the one doing the mixing (rather than the mayo brand itself) — so I’ve excluded all spicy mayos from this blind taste test.
Here’s our lineup:
Acid League Maker’s Mayo Tangy
Best Food’s (Hellman’s) Real Mayonnaise
Best Food’s (Hellman’s) Organic Mayonnaise
Chosen Foods Avocado-Based Classic Mayo
Duke’s Real Mayonnaise
Kraft Light Mayo
Kewpie Mayo
Kroger Real Mayo
McCormick Mayonnaise with Lime
MNMLST Mayo
Miracle Whip
Plant Perfect Vegan Mayo
Primal Kitchen Mayo
Simple Truth Organic Mayonnaise
Sir Kensington’s Mayonnaise
Spectrum Culinary Organic Mayonnaise
Trader Joe’s Organic Mayonnaise
Trader Joe’s Vegan Mayo Spread & Dressing
Truff Mayonnaise
Whole Foods 365 Organic Mayonnaise
Let’s dip!
Part 1: The Tasting
Taste 1:
Dane Rivera
Sharply tangy on the nose, almost unpleasantly so. This sauce is very light, it’s missing some of the more hearty and sumptuous qualities of mayo.
From my notes: “comes across as very sweet with a loudly present lemon tinge.”
Taste 2:
Dane Rivera
Very fragrant, I don’t normally describe the smell of lemon, eggs, and oil as pleasant, but this smells very good and mouthwatering. The consistency is very wet, it doesn’t look well incorporated but the flavor is great. It’s earthy and round, with a very pleasant buttery mouthfeel.
From my notes: “It has a luxurious and fatty texture and rich flavor.”
Taste 3:
Dane Rivera
Almost flavorless. With a whipped, airy consistency. It almost doesn’t come across as mayo at all, it’s more mouthfeel than anything. I’m guessing this is one of the vegan brands.
Taste 4:
Dane Rivera
Very eggy with an unctuous mouthfeel. It has a sort of dirty flatness to it and almost no tang.
Taste 5:
Dane Rivera
Awful. It’s intensely sweet to the point of being wince-inducing. This is a budget brand for sure, and it tastes like they’re doing the bare minimum.
Taste 6:
Dane Rivera
Very flavorful with hints of earthy mustard and herbaceous rosemary. Still… it lacks tang and most importantly, creaminess. It’s way too oily.
Taste 7:
Dane Rivera
The first mayo of our tasting with a bright lemon-forward flavor. After the initial brightness, the flavor is very nicely balanced, it has a luxurious fatty creamy quality to it in texture and flavor. This is what you want out of mayo.
Taste 8:
Dane Rivera
Very fragrant and spicy on the nose. The consistency on this one is really weird, it’s lumpy in appearance but feels loose as I dredge a fry through it. If taste 3 isn’t the vegan brand, this one is. The flavor confirms it, it’s very vegetal and while it gets in the ballpark of mayo, I don’t see this enhancing and elevating the flavors of a dish, as a good mayo does.
Taste 9:
Dane Rivera
Very light and citrusy. I can see this brand being someone’s favorite, a hidden gem for sure, but the consistency is just a bit too watery to my liking. It has a runny, alomost-wet mouthfeel. Great simple flavor, though.
Taste 10:
Dane Rivera
Very interesting. This has a fatty flavor with a slight umami quality to it. There is a bit of fragrant smokiness hovering on the backend and a really well-balanced classic mayo flavor.
From my notes: “This is in the running for the number one spot so far.”
Taste 11:
Dane Rivera
After the luxurious and creamy texture of Taste 10, this one is a real step down. The consistency of this mayo is very chunky and gelatinous, but I like the flavor. It’s a bit heavy on the oil and slightly plant-y. If this is a vegan brand it’s doing a very good job at emulating the eggy flavor of mayo.
Taste 12:
Dane Rivera
Very sour, tangy, and oily. It tastes like mayo, but it also tastes like it’s going bad.
Taste 13:
Dane Rivera
There is a strange green hue to this one… is it vegan? The flavor would suggest otherwise. Nope, it’s definitely the real thing. Eggy, fatty, creamy, slightly lemony, and pleasantly herbaceous on the backend.
Taste 14:
Dane Rivera
This is excellent. You can taste the oil a bit too much (nothing a good stir/shake couldn’t fix), but it has the perfect balance of lemony tang and sumptuous fatty notes. It’s not in the running for the top spot but this is a top-five mayo, for sure.
Taste 15:
Dane Rivera
From my notes: “This is fucking great.”
Very bright and tangy with an earthy flavor with subtle umami qualities and a luxurious mouthfeel. It’s buttery, bright, and bursting with flavor. It’s making this lukewarm fry taste elevated, suddenly the salt is jumping out more, the butteriness of the potato is in play — this is an absolute flavor enhancer.
This is the only time I’ve tried plain mayo and didn’t think it could use an ingredient or two to take it next level. As of now, this is without a doubt my number 1.
Taste 16:
Dane Rivera
Awful. It’s very oil forward, and not well combined. The flavors don’t taste incorporated, all the right ingredients are there but they haven’t come together properly.
Taste 17:
Dane Rivera
I fucked up. I know this is Truff because I can smell and taste truffles. There is a heavy umami mushroom flavor to this, it tastes more like mushrooms than anything else. If you like truffles you’ll love this. As a mayo, I actually think the truffles hold it back, not elevate it.
Taste 18:
Dane Rivera
A great classic mayo. Eggy, creamy, fatty, with some nice backend tang. A really nice consistency here, this is a solid jar but doesn’t really stand out.
Taste 19:
Dane Rivera
Mustard forward and very fatty. A bit oily to the tongue, overall good, not great.
Taste 20:
Dane Rivera
Yikes, this was clearly from a squeeze bottle and it looks straight up gross. But the consistency is very thick with a luxurious mouthfeel and a great flavor. Very fatty, tangy with some mustard and subtle sweetness.
Light mayo, why bother? This barely comes across as tasting like mayo, it doesn’t have the right mouthfeel and the flavor is way too light. Kraft boasts that their mayo is 1/2 the fat and calories and they achieve this by scaling way back on the oil. It’s not a sacrifice that’s worth it — just use less regular mayo!
The Bottom Line:
If you want to taste the mayo, a light variety just isn’t going to cut it. If you’re concerned with cutting calories and you need to opt for a light mayo, you’re sacrificing the flavor for half the calories. The logic doesn’t hold.
I didn’t know this about Miracle Whip prior to this ranking but this isn’t technically mayo. The word mayonnaise is nowhere to be found on the jar and while it has all the same ingredients, and shares shelf space with mayo, the consistency and flavors just aren’t quite what you want them to be. It tastes cheap and loaded with sugar, and it is.
High Fructose Corn Syrup is the main driver of flavor here.
The Bottom Line:
Miracle Whip is basically mayo, but can’t call itself mayo, which should give you an idea of its lack of quality. This really only exists to be the punchline of Kanye’s famous line about his mayonnaise-colored Benz.
Simple Truth is Kroger’s Organic label and this mayonnaise is indeed made using organically grown eggs and oil. It’s not worth it, stick to the regular Kroger brand. This one is way too sharp and tangy.
The Bottom Line:
Grossly tangy. If you care enough about organic sourcing, splurge for the higher-priced options if you want something that actually tastes like good mayo and not this sour mess.
I feel bad about ranking a vegan mayonnaise so low but this just isn’t good. It’s made using canola oil and a whole bunch of gums and yeasts and it just tastes gross and plant-y, with a powdery, and not well-incorporated texture. This one really stands out as obviously vegan, which may be something you want. For me, it comes across as a pale imitation.
The Bottom Line:
A vegan mayo that doesn’t even get in the ballpark of tasting like the real thing.
I almost never like products from this brand so I’m not surprised to see their take on mayo near the bottom of this list. Acid League’s Maker’s Mayo is made using apple cider vinegar, sunflower oil, egg yolk, and distilled vinegar with some added yuzu flavor and living ACV. That’s great for gut health and all but I’m just looking for a good mayo, not a gut biome refresh.
Okay, we’re finally in decent mayo territory. This meets the bare minimum flavor requirements, it’s tangy and hearty but a bit too sweet. It tastes cheap and ,at $2.99, it is!.
The Bottom Line:
Cheap but it gets the job done. If you don’t like your mayo coming across as sweet, move on to our next choice.
McCormick has dubbed itself the #1 brand of Mexico and as someone who is Mexican (and Guatemalan), I could… not confirm this brand’s popularity. I’ve honestly never even seen McCormick mayo in anybody’s house before, Mexican or otherwise. The brand advertises its use of lime and for the most part that doesn’t really translate to the flavor. It’s a bit more citrus-forward but doesn’t taste particularly different than what you’d expect.
The Bottom Line:
A bit brighter than your typical basic mayo, but still pretty bland. It’s good, far from great.
Admittedly this vegan mayo has a very weird texture that looks very obviously not like mayo, but the flavor is a pretty good match. While it isn’t quite as luxurious and elevated as what will be ranked ahead of it, it’s easily better than a lot of the basic budget mayos. It is made using avocado oil and chickpea broth (aquafaba), as well as white vinegar and some guns, which explains its weird consistency.
The Bottom Line:
A great vegan mayonnaise that approximates what mayo can provide pretty well.
12. Truffle — Mayonnaise Black Truffle Infused (Taste 17)
This brand snuck its way into the ranking but I should’ve suspected that a band called “Truff” might, you know, put truffles in their mayo. It feels wrong to not rank this mayo when I have thoughts on it, so I’m placing it here in the middle of the ranking. Truff makes its mayo with cafe-free eggs infused with black truffle oil in a sunflower oil base. The truffles flavor absolutely dominates everything.
The Bottom Line:
Good if you like truffles. If you don’t or are merely curious, you’re going to find this way overwhelmingly truffle forward.
I’m really surprised at how different Best Foods (Hellman’s) Organic Mayo tastes compared to the OG, and even more surprised at how much worse it is. Not that it tastes bad, it doesn’t, but there is absolutely no reason to pick up the organic version over this in flavor is what you’re after. Best Foods uses soybean oil, and organic whole eggs, and sports a darker almost olive-toned color than your typical mayo. It’s fine, but a bit too oily.
The Bottom Line:
Not better than the non-organic version, and different enough that you might actually dislike this compared to the OG.
10. Chosen Foods — Classic Mayo Avocado Based (Taste 6)
Chosen Foods makes a point of mentioning that this is an avocado-based mayo but… that just doesn’t matter that much. Sure, avocado oil is marginally more healthy and nutrient-dense than sunflower or soybean oil but it has no effect on the flavor, it’s purely marketing. The flavor is fine enough, but you’re paying a higher price for a more expensive ingredient that doesn’t improve the flavor in any way.
The Bottom Line:
Don’t give in to the marketing. It’s a good mayo, but the use of avocado oil isn’t doing a whole lot to justify the price.
Trader Joe’s makes its mayo using organic expeller pressed soybean oil, and adds mustard seed and other spices to the formula to give it a slightly more elevated taste. It works! This is a great-tasting mayo with organic ingredients that actually feels like it justifies the price. There are better mayos out there though.
The Bottom Line:
If Trader Joe’s Organic Mayonnaise is the most convenient choice, pick it up. It’s not the best but it more than gets the job done.
Whole Foods makes their Organic Mayonnaise with canola oil and whole organic cage-free eggs. The flavor is very simple and straightforward but for the price, it can’t really be beaten. The use of canola oil does have us giving a little side-eye to this particular jar, but the flavor is right where you want it to be.
The Bottom Line:
The best flavor-to-price ratio.
7. Primal Kitchen — Mayo with Avocado Oil (Taste 13)
With Primal Kitchen, less is more. Than mayo features just a handful of necessary ingredients and is made using avocado oil, organic eggs, organic eggs yolks, organic vinegar, sea salt, and organic rosemary extract. The result is delicious, simple, and slightly herbaceous.
The Bottom Line:
One of the better-tasting pricier mayos on the market.
MNMLST is the only brand in this ranking to use grapeseed oil in their recipe, as well as coconut vinegar and coconut sugar in addition to eggs, lemon juice concentrate, and sea salt. Does the oil make a difference? Not sure, but that coconut vinegar and sugar definitely do lend a sweet nuttiness to this.
The Bottom Line:
An interesting take on sweet mayo that doesn’t come across as too sugary.
Spectrum Culinary’s Organic Mayonnaise is made with expeller pressed oil, cage-free organic eggs, and a bit of honey. Like MNMLST, this mayo attempts to add in the sweetness of cheaper brands but does it right. The honey adds an earthy and floral sweetness to it that pairs well with the tangy mustard-dominant aftertaste.
Sir Kensington’s Mayo has probably the most hipster-pandering label and name of any mayo brand. But you know what? The hipsters know how to make their mayo. This stuff is simple and great. The brand uses humane-certified free-range eggs, sunflower oil, cane sugar, and organic lemon juice and everything tastes well incorporated.
I think it’s kind of corny when people say things like “Heinz is the only brand that matters” when it comes to ketchup, or “McDonald’s fries are the best in fast food,” when really all you’re doing is taking a purely subjective view of flavor and confusing taste with nostalgia. Hellman’s, or Best Foods as it’s known to folks west of the Rockies, is that brand for mayo.
People swear by this stuff and that definitely has a lot to do with the fact that this is probably the first brand most people have had so this is just what mayo should taste like to people. You know what… they’re kind of right. Best Foods delivers — they don’t do anything special but the balance between egg, oil, and acid is perfect.
It’s sweet, creamy, fatty, flavorful, and flexible. You can do a lot with this sauce, on its own and as a base.
The Bottom Line:
It’s just what mayonnaise should taste like. It’s been the most prominent and visible brand for a reason. The Pepsi of mayonnaise.
If Best Foods is the Pepsi of mayonnaise, Duke’s is the Coca-Cola. This mayo has bite, or as the bottle exclaims, “it’s got tang!” But it’s not just tangy, that’s to be expected, it’s smokey, spicy, and earthy — no doubt a consequence of the paprika and cider vinegar. It has a really present flavor that jumps out at you.
Standing side-by-side with Best Food’s, it smokes the rival brand.
The Bottom Line:
Better than Best Foods and a toss-up for first place.
As I said in the tasting, this is the only mayo that doesn’t taste like it needs any additional ingredients to make it good (Duke’s comes close) so I have to give it the top spot. It is the best mayonnaise I’ve ever tasted that wasn’t homemade. This Japanese-style mayo is thicker and more luxurious than American mayo, with a brighter and altogether more complex flavor. It is made using egg yolks, soybean oil, rice, and balsamic vinegar.
The flavor not only cuts through on a french fry, but it actually managed to elevate the flavors of the fry, allowing me to taste the salt and potato even more, which is what a great mayo should do. Mayonnaise is a flavor enhancer, it should elevate, compliment, and enhance the flavors of whatever you put it on and this brand truly lives up to that task.
The Bottom Line:
Creamy, sweet, luxurious, bright, sumptuous, umami-packed. This mayo explodes with flavor while improving whatever you put it on. This is, as far as we’re concerned, a kitchen staple whether you’re looking for straight mayo or need to make a more complex sauce. Put it on everything.
Tove Lo is back to provide us with more amazing summer jams, following “True Romance” and “No One Dies From Love.” This new track is called “2 Die 4,” from her forthcoming album Dirt Femme, which arrives later this year.
“2 Die 4” is a pulsating, clubby banger with a fun beat drop and excited lyrics: “I’ll go on all your adventures / If you wanna find yourself / I’ve been to so many places / But I’ve never felt better,” she sings. About the song, she said in a statement, “With ‘2 Die 4’ I wanted ‘instantly iconic’ energy. I’ve never sampled anything before, and this feels like the perfect first moment. Lyrically I wanted it to be that ‘pick me up when I’m feeling down’ song. At first, it’s like a warm hug, then you shake it off, let out a scream and start dancing!”
She added about the video: “I wanted to make something nostalgic, sexy and iconic. The character for this scene is wonder woman with big dick energy and I just love it. Now, if you know what’s good for you, go listen on repeat.”
Watch the video for “2 Die 4” above.
Dirt Femme is out 10/14 via Pretty Swede and MTheory. Pre-save it here.
Like a rich parent threatening to cut you off, the Republican National Committee is warning Donald Trump that if he decides to run for president in 2024, they will stop all payments to the various law firms that are representing the former president in matters both personal and professional.
According to ABC News, the RNC has shelled out nearly $2 million since November 2021 to pay for Trump’s mounting legal fees as he faces growing scrutiny and the possibility of new (and very serious) charges following the Department of Justice’s announcement that it’s officially investigating the former president’s direct role in the deadly insurrection of January 6, 2021. But the political committee, which utilizes donor money to pay these fees, isn’t attempting to make any sort of political statement with its message to Trump, nor is it suggesting they’d prefer to see another candidate in the running. Really, it’s just the opposite: Because the group maintains a “neutrality policy,” it can’t be seen as favoring one candidate during a presidential primary, and paying Trump’s legal bills could certainly be considered a violation of that policy.
“The party has to stay neutral,” RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said in January. “I’m not telling anybody to run or not to run in 2024.” Just that if Trump—who McDaniel says “still leads the party”—opts to make another run at the Oval Office, he’ll have to foot his own legal bills. Which may not seem like a big deal, but ABC News previously reported that in October and November of 2021 alone, the former president’s legal fees totaled $720,000, as Trump is facing a handful of investigations, “including criminal investigations into his businesses in New York.”
When Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine in the early morning hours of February 24, 2022, he thought it would be a quick one-and-done kind of thing. But it turns out that the Russian dictator may have been a victim of his own propaganda and believed that his country’s military was much stronger and more advanced than they really are—and erroneously believed that Ukraine’s military was weak.
Less than three weeks into the Russia Ukraine War, more than 7,000 of Putin’s soldiers had been killed, which The New York Times described as a “staggering” loss of life. Apart from that, the Russian army is woefully unprepared and lacking in the most basic necessities. In May, The Daily Beast reported that soldiers were calling their parents and begging them for money so that they could buy their own protective gear. In a new report, The Daily Beast says that Russian officials are now asking citizens to donate money to help better outfit their soldiers. In other words, Russia is attempting to crowdfund its own war.
Russian officials are asking local residents in one Novosbibirsk community to crowdfund equipment for troops fighting in Ukraine.
Officials in Morskoy used the popular networking sites Odnoklassniki and Vkontakte to plead for donations to buy quadcopters, gas generators, binoculars, compression bandages, and combat application tourniquets used by the U.S. and other NATO countries, according to the Siberian news outlet Taiga.info.
“The goods can be handed over to the administration of Morskoy village on business days,” one posting reportedly read, along with pro-Putin and pro-war hashtags. The appeals were later deleted.
It was later reported that that so-called “wish list” was specifically intended to help one anti-aircraft missile squadron, which didn’t really answer the question as to why the Russian government wasn’t supplying its own soldiers with such basic necessities as bandages.
The Daily Beast cited a story from The Moscow Times, in which a soldier (anonymously, of course) told the paper that they have been forced “to buy everything ourselves, with our own money. I’m not even talking about modern body armor and helmets: there are no warm clothes, no dry rations or first-aid kits.” The soldier also said that the equipment they have been given is old and unreliable. “The weapons just jam,” he said. “We ask the command to provide at least some additional protection. They just shrug.”
Over the past few months, rap fans have placed more and more scrutiny on prosecutors who use rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials against hip-hop artists. While “hip-hop cops” have long been rumored as a fixture of the justice system, cases involving popular rappers such as Young Thug and YoungBoy Never Broke Again have highlighted how that system tries to turn rappers’ creative expression against them. Using literal interpretations of violent lyrics or shout-outs to alleged criminal groups as evidence is increasingly seen as a violation of artists’ freedom of speech; fortunately, a new development may help to protect that right in the future.
A new bill modeled after New York’s “Rap On Trial” law proposal has been introduced in the US House Of Representatives by Congressmen Hank Johnson (D-GA) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY). The New York version, which passed the state senate in May, still hasn’t passed the state assembly or been ratified by the governor yet, but its creation turned out to be instructive on the new federal bill, called the Restoring Artistic Protection (RAP) Act (get it?). The RAP Act would change the Federal Rules of Evidence to limit the use of lyrics as evidence.
In a statement, Rep. Bowman said, “Rap, Hip Hop, and every lyrical musical piece is a beautiful form of art and expression that must be protected. Our judicial system disparately criminalizes Black and brown lives, including Black and brown creativity. Evidence shows when juries believe lyrics to be rap lyrics, there’s a tendency to presume it’s a confession, whereas lyrics for other genres of music are understood to be art, not factual reporting. This act would ensure that our evidentiary standards protect the First Amendment right to freedom of expression. We cannot imprison our talented artists for expressing their experiences nor will we let their creativity be suppressed.”
If passed, the RAP Act could protect artists like Young Thug and Gunna, who are accused of alleged ties to a violent street gang. In the racketeering indictment, both are charged with violations of the RICO Act, but the only evidence tying them to the supposed gang is cherry-picked lyrics. Likewise, NBA YoungBoy was given a reprieve from using lyrics to prove he had knowledge of guns when nothing in those lyrics could tie him to the gun found in his car. The burden of evidence should absolutely be higher than “this guy rapped about this thing on a song once, so obviously he did the crime we’re accusing him of.” Thanks to the RAP Act, it could be.
For the first 17 months following the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building, Sarah Longwell has been conducting focus groups with Donald Trump voters from the 2020 election. During that time, she found that “at least half of the respondents” wanted Trump to run again in 2024 and they even believed his “Big Lie” about the election being stolen. However, following the start of the January 6 hearings in June, Longwell observed a noticeable “shift” as support for Trump plummeted.
Writing for The Atlantic, Longwell noted that “only 14 percent of Trump 2020 voters wanted him to run in 2024,” and in four of the nine focus groups she’s held since the start of the January 6 hearings, “zero people wanted Trump to run again.”
According to Longwell, the 2020 Trump voters don’t think he can win, and frankly, they’re tired of dealing with him:
“He’s just too divisive and controversial,” a participant in Washington State said about Trump. “There are good candidates out there waiting to shine.”
A participant in Wyoming said, “I feel like there’s too many people against him right now. He’s never gonna make it … So I feel like somebody else needs to step in that has similar views, but not as big of an ego—who people like, I guess.”
“At first I thought I would” want him to run again, an Arizona participant said. “I think it’s time to move on.”
During a focus group in Ohio, one participant noted that if Trump won, his Twitter account would be reactivated, causing even more headaches.
“I do not want four more years of ‘orange man bad’ and everybody screaming about every time he tweets — and believe me, he did some really bad tweets,” the participant said. “I don’t want four more years of that.”
It’s probably not a huge leap to think that sticking Trevor Noah in a room with Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner and asking them to find three things they have in common would be an arduous task. “Ummm… breathing?” But one thing we now know they could all wax angrily about is Instagram’s annoying new redesign, which is geared toward becoming more like TikTok and erasing the people you actually follow from your feed.
Earlier this week, Jenner—who is the most followed woman on Instagram, with 350 million people creeping her every post—posted an open letter to Instagram, which is now part of Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta family, telling the company to “Make Instagram Instagram Again.” On Wednesday night, The Daily Show host joined her in her Insta-hate:
If you’ve been on Instagram lately, you may have noticed that it, ummm, it sucks. Right? Everything is an ad and your feed is full of people you don’t follow, which is so confusing. ‘Cause I’m scrolling, and I start reading someone’s post and I’m like, ‘Do I know this person? Was I supposed to be at this wedding?’ And then you look and it says ‘Because you follow your friend, we thought you might like a post from a stranger.’ No I don’t!!
While everyday users of what has always been known as a photo app have been complaining as the company has quietly rolled out these changes, Noah said it took criticism from the aforementioned Kardashian-Jenner clan—or, as he calls them, “the royal family of Instagram”—for the company to actually respond. And what Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri essentially said is that he doesn’t really care what the platform’s users are saying because they know what you want better than you do. In other words: They’re standing firm in their commitment to pushing more video content from people you’ve never clapped eyes on in your life.
“Yeah, that’s right people,” Noah mocked. “You thought Instagram was for pictures of your friends. Well that’s OVER! You were always bitching about brunch pics? Now you’re going to be begging to see them. You’ll be like, ‘Please! Was it eggs? Was it avocado toast? I just want to know what my friends were eating!!”
You can watch Noah’s full Instagram takedown above, beginning around the 6:10 mark.
Over the past month, Mark Hamill has been tweeting the props he “permanently borrowed” from the sets of various Star Wars movies. When asked what’s the “most valuable” Star Wars-related thing he’s in possession of, the actor wrote, “My boots from the very 1st film. Don’t know their value because I’d never sell them.”
His five-robot-fingered discounts didn’t end there.
Hamill also kept the “Stormtrooper helmet I wore rescuing the Princess” and an “Imperial Death Star Employee’s cap” from A New Hope, and “1 pair #3PO hands” and “1 pair #3PO feet” (for his son, Nathan) and “1 prop rubber frog” from Return of the Jedi. He doesn’t have anything from The Empire Strikes Back, besides memories of a fractured nose, or any of the sequel movies, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker. I get why Hamill wouldn’t want anything from Episode IX, but he should have at least kept a porg. Those round boys go for big money on the black market.
Hamill will soon appear in Netflix’s The Sandman as Merv Pumpkinhead, who, you guessed it, has a pumpkin for a head. How difficult is it to smuggle a pumpkin through security? Asking for a… friend.
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